The Black Sky

by Michael Dalton

  She’d been furiously taking notes as I talked.

  “This is fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. I assume you realize what this could mean?”

  I did.

  I saw Cassie’s face in my mind. I tried not to think about what she was doing at that moment, four years on from my departure.

  Then I answered Professor Sloraq.

  “The conduit could well go in both directions.”

  “Yes. When you have some time, I would appreciate it a great deal if we could discuss this further in person.”

  “Once I’ve chased down this mystery about Silas, I’ll try.”

  “Of course. Oh, and something else occurs to me now. What do you know about Yama-Kana? I don’t believe you have been there, have you?”

  “No. Nothing but the name.”

  “As I think about this, Silas’s presence there is significant to me. Yama-Kanans have always had a somewhat more . . . nuanced, shall we say, view of the makalang, compared to the near universal skepticism in Phan-garad – before you arrived, that is. There is a group there that I would have to describe as a sort of makalang cult. I don’t want to say they worship the makalang, but their interest in the history borders on the obsessive.” She laughed. “And I’m sure you know that’s significant coming from me.”

  “Yes.”

  “But it’s a group that, if I am not mistaken, is not very old. Certainly not from Silas’s day, I would think. So, if the makalang actually resided there at some time, I have to wonder if something in his residency there was the spark that led to its emergence. Or, more relevant to your inquiry, they might have information from those days that you would find useful.”

  A spark that led to its emergence?

  She loudly declared that I was bringing doom upon my line and upon this land.

  I wavered for several long moments, because I knew the reaction I was going to get if I told Professor Sloraq about Silas’s journals. But I needed answers.

  So I told her. And I pretty much got the reaction I had expected. I explained to her that they were written in the language of my world and were therefore going to be incomprehensible to her. When she finally began to calm down, I promised to commit some time to helping her translate them at some future date, but in the meantime, I needed her opinions on what I’d read about the strange talalong.

  “Will, I have no idea who that could have been,” she said. “It could very well have been some predecessor of this cult. But without going there and speaking with them, I see no way of answering this dilemma. So I would recommend that. Assuming, that is, that they are willing to meet with you.”

  “You don’t think they would?”

  “Like all cults, they depend on a certain orthodoxy in their beliefs. Your appearance has surely upended some of them. I don’t mean to alarm you, of course, but I would take care in approaching them. I’ve spoken to only a couple of members of this group, but I found the experience disturbing in ways I can’t quite put my finger on.”

  “So how do I find them?”

  “They call themselves the Gates of the Golden Staff, and no, I have no idea what that means. But if you go there, I suspect they will find you.”

  ◆◆◆

  I talked to Kisarat about all of it afterwards. She listened intently, asking only a few questions.

  “So, you intend to go to Yama-Kana and meet with this group?” she asked when I was done.

  “Yes, I want to go to Yama-Kana. Whether or not we find them, I want to see what Silas may have left behind there. I have a strong sense there’s more to learn.”

  “By your use of ‘we’, do I correctly assume you intend for me to come with you?”

  “Yes. You and Merindra, I think. Eladra and Narilora need some downtime after that trek into the mountains, and I need Ayarala and Mereceeree here managing things. Have you been there before?”

  “Yes. During my time in school. I studied there for several sampars on a project from Professor Sloraq. But only that once.”

  “That’s once more than me.”

  She laughed softly, shaking her head.

  “To think, when I decided back then to study the history of the makalang, I would one day be assisting him in his own research.” She laughed again. “As one of his most trusted wives.”

  “You are that.”

  “When do you wish to leave?” she asked.

  “I have some things to take care of, but soon. Within a sampar.”

  “I will speak to Merindra and prepare accordingly. Yama-Kana is not like Phan-garad.”

  “In a good or bad way?”

  “Some of both. It has not suffered the same level of decline as Phan-garad, but that is because its citizens are much more passionate about everything, sometimes to the detriment of logic and reason. I am sure you will be welcomed, but the presence of this cult is characteristic of the sort of environment we will find there.”

  ◆◆◆

  Before I left, there were a few other issues to resolve. Taking all the guards – who totaled eight linyang and nine sorai – as what amounted to wives threw off our ratios again, even with the extra allotment Loreloo had agreed to. I had to tell both Ceriniat and Varycibe to let me work out the additions, without telling them precisely how. They weren’t exactly happy about it, but they agreed.

  I then told Loreloo, Missok, and Uhagian to hold off on sending me any more wives, because I intended to choose a few more from the crowd out front. They were somewhat less unhappy than Ceriniat and Varycibe had been, at least after I assured them I would maintain the agreed-upon ratios.

  That having been taken care of, I called my now roughly three dozen wives together to explain the situation. I stressed to them that, once they were pregnant, it was okay if they wanted to go back to their clans and families. I only wanted them to stay if they really wanted to stay and raise the children with me. It was a bit of a shift in my original posture, but I’d come to realize that we needed to increase the turnover. I got the impression that quite a few of them (besides the guards, that is) would probably leave. That was fine. I only had room in my head for about eight to ten serious wives anyway.

  After the meeting, I reached out to the talalong girl with the amethyst hair, whose name was Asarane. And because of that hair, it wasn't hard to find her. The girls in Professor Sloraq’s office knew who she was. I asked her to come over to talk. She showed up a couple of nights later after dinner. The guards brought her up the office, and she stood nervously there as I waited for the guards to leave.

  “I just wanted to let you know that the bombings are over,” I said. “That’s a conclusion, of course, I’m basing on the assumption that you and your friend have the sense to put this behind you.”

  She laughed, covering her mouth for a moment.

  “Yeah. I guess we’ll stick to, you know, drinking too much and running around naked to see if the panikang chase us.”

  “That’s a thing you girls do for fun?”

  “Like I said, there’s not much to do around here anymore.” Then the mirth drained out of her, and she pushed that long, beautiful amethyst hair back over her head. It looked nothing like the silly purple dye jobs I’d seen on girls back on Earth. Like Kisarat’s, it glittered like strands of glass as it spilled around her face. “So you figured out who did the other bombings?”

  “Yes.”

  I didn’t say anything else. I just sat there as she waited for me to continue.

  “Okay,” she said finally.

  “Like I said, it’s over.”

  She stared at me for a few moments, fidgeting. Her tail twisted slowly behind her. Unlike Kisarat, who had a pattern to her scales that reminded me of a ball python, this girl’s scales looked more like an asp’s – glossy purple-black, depending on the lighting.

  “Is there some other reason you asked me to come over here?”

  I laughed.

  “Were you hoping there was?”

  “I mean, if my friends knew I’d been in he
re at all, let alone that you called me up and asked me to come over here . . .”

  I smiled at her. She was cute. Not gorgeous, but cute. But having been surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous girls since I arrived on Taitala, I was starting to develop a taste for something different.

  “Have you been outside in the crowd at all?”

  Asarane fidgeted again.

  “A couple of times.”

  “You know, they’re going to continue picking girls from out there. I’ve never seen hair like yours before.”

  She fought back a smile for a few moments.

  “Yeah. It’s really rare.”

  “I figured. The guards will show you out. Have a good night.”

  ◆◆◆

  The next morning, I woke up to find the bed empty and my six wives all sitting together in the couch and chairs in the corner of the bedroom by the edge of the balcony. Even Mereceeree, who usually went to sleep at dawn, was up with them. Kisarat noticed me sitting up and brought me a mug of massit from the hot plate she’d set up near the bed. She bent over and kissed me.

  “Good morning.”

  “What are you all up to?”

  “You should ask Narilora.”

  Then she got up. As I climbed out of bed and pulled on some pants, Narilora left the rest of them and came over to me. She took my hand and led me to the couch at the end of the bed, motioning for me to sit down. I did, and she sat in my lap.

  “What’s up, pussy-cat?”

  She took my face in her hands and kissed me a few times.

  “The first time I saw you,” she said, “I thought you were a monster. The second time, I wanted to kill you.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  She pressed her forehead against mine. Then she whispered to me.

  “I feel things for you that are so intense, I don’t know how I hold them all in my heart. I died, and you brought me back. I was broken, and you fixed me. I had nothing, and . . .”

  Her voice caught in her throat. Then she took my hand and pressed it against her stomach.

  “. . . and you’ve given me everything.”

  And it was there. Tiny, days-old, barely even perceptible, but it was there. A little spark of Narilora-and-Will deep inside her, growing.

  I put arms around her. She hugged me back fiercely. I saw the others across the room watching us, smiling, laughing quietly to each other.

  But there was something else.

  Something so subtle that I almost missed it. Something almost undetectable, the child was so new. Something different from all the others.

  I reached into her again, confused. What was it? A moment later, I knew.

  Narilora sensed the shift in my reaction. She pulled back.

  “Will?”

  I was too shocked to say anything, too shocked at what this meant.

  “Will?” Her voice had taken on an edge of concern, almost panic. “What is it?”

  I fought to get myself under control.

  “Baby . . . pussy-cat . . . your child is male.”

  ◆◆◆

  The story continues in The Golden Staff: The Makalang Book 3

  A Glossary of Taitalan Terms

  aJia’jara – (AH-gia-jara) A Taitalan male in Phan-garad.

  Alag – (AH-lag) a beverage distilled from fruit; similar to wine.

  Awasa-late – (ah-wa-suh-LAH-tay) sister-wife; used as a form of address and sometimes term of endearment between wives.

  Awasa-lina – (ah-wa-suh-LEE-nah) mother-wife; the senior female among a tsulygoi’s wives and typically the one responsible for overall management of his household. May or may not be the first wife claimed.

  Busang – (BOO-sang) a predator similar to a black, six-legged mountain lion.

  Cunelo – (coo-NAY-lo) one of the Taitalan races. They have rabbit-like ears and tails.

  Dubigar – (DO-big-are) a fruit; its juice can be used in healing.

  Dwenda – (DWEN-duh) one of the Taitalan races. They have pale skin and pointed ears.

  iXa’aliq – (ih-SHE-a-leek) A Taitalan male; Kisarat and Narilora’s first tsulygoi.

  Jalank – (JAH-langk) a fish resembling a large trout.

  Kabayang – (KA-buh-yang) a domestic animal resembling a six-legged orange llama.

  Kiralabar – (cur-AH-la-bar) a flower. It can be distilled into a narcotic-like drug.

  Kumala – (COO-mala) the second star in the Taitalan system.

  Kumala-talon – (COO-mala-ta-lun) a unit of time equal to one circuit of Kumala across the Taitalan sky, which takes about 40 talons.

  Langoy – (LAN-goy) meteorite iron.

  Linyang – (LIN-yang) one of the Taitalan races. They have cat-like ears and tails.

  Makalang – (MAH-kuh-lang) a legendary creature roughly analogous to Bigfoot.

  Malvina – (mal-VEE-nuh) a liquor distilled from alag.

  Massit – (MAH-sit) a beverage brewed from ground nuts and seeds. Similar to coffee.

  Matsak – (MAT-sack) a small animal resembling a six-legged black koala.

  Nalasin – (nuh-LA-sin) the state of a wife who has mated and whose tsulygoi has died, or a wife who left her tsulygoi after mating. She is expected to live alone and not mate again.

  Panikang – (PA-nih-kang) one of the Taitalan races.

  Pikala – (pi-KA-lah) a unit of money.

  Sampar – (SAM-par) a period of time equal to ten days.

  Sorai – (SO-rye) one of the Taitalan races. They have foxlike ears and tails.

  Talalong – (TA-luh-long) one of the Taitalan races. They have snake-like tails, scales, and venomous fangs.

  Talon – (TA-lun) the Taitalan year, equal to 72 sampars.

  Tatanga – (tuh-TANG-ga) the third star in the Taitalan system.

  Tsulygoi – (SOO-li-goy) a Taitalan male who has claimed at least one wife. The term is generally used as an honorific form of address by his wives.

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